Picking Up Habits
by crimsonpuddle
Summary: Rose, Mickey and Pete are at work at Torchwood. Rose discovers she picked up some familiar habits over the time she spent travelling with a certain Time Lord. One-shot post-Doomsday. Supposedly funny, Ten/Rose. Spoilers for S2 finale.


Here's my one-shot about Rose, Mickey and Pete at work at Torchwood in the Parallel Universe. Enjoy! And please review with good or bad feedback; I don't mind - I only wrote this to pass the time!

**Disclaimer:** I really don't own Doctor Who. Seriously.

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**Picking Up Habits**

The sun was making fun of her, Rose was sure of it. It taunted her outside the window, glaring in through the glass and spreading its warm rays over the huge, bare table daringly. She gazed out at it, letting her mind wander as she stared at the few clouds in the blue, summer air. Rose always chose this seat - it was in just the right place for her to drift off and watch the sky. Her head was rested lazily on the palm of her hand, which was in turn resting on the table - it was clear to anyone that she was paying no attention to the debate being held.

Rose was in a deep, dreamlike state, and only vaguely aware of what was happening around her. She was vaguely aware that she was in a meeting, and the most boring one she had yet to suffer through; she was vaguely aware that some stuffy old man was talking about the state of the sewers - most likely a member of Protect the Weevils - and she was vaguely aware that Mickey, to her left, had been poking her non-stop for the past few minutes.

"What?" she hissed at him, reluctantly breaking her focus from the clouds and sliding her elbow off the desk. She suddenly realised that the room was silent, and Mickey nodded his head towards the former speaker, who was staring at her expectantly, as was everyone else in the room.

"Well, Miss Tyler?" he asked her, and she cursed silently. Her eyes drifted around the table and fell on Pete, at the head of the table. It was his fault she was here in the first place - she hated meetings, and this was supposedly a punishment for that late load of paperwork she'd given in last week, something else she couldn't stand. She just didn't see the point: why bother exploring the universe just to spend the rest of your life writing essays about it? She snapped out of her thoughts and returned her gaze to Pete, who was nodding his head slowly, as if signalling to her, and at the same time, smirking slightly. She turned back to the environmentalist.

"Yes." she said firmly. "Yes, I think that's a…brilliant idea." She crossed her fingers under the table and hoped she wouldn't be asked any further questions, but the man seemed satisfied. Rose breathed a short sigh of relief when he continued talking in his low droning voice, and propped her arm back on the table, staring out at the sky as she did so.

She thought of the Doctor, and wondered what he'd be doing right now - he wouldn't be stuck in a meeting, that's for sure. How she longed to return to those days when she could travel the world. She'd seen all those amazing things, those brilliant sights and wonderful creatures, and now, here she was, stuck in an office in the middle of the day, listening to some pompous man going on and on about the state of the sewers.

A few minutes passed before Rose was interrupted again, and this time she turned to face Mickey abruptly and glared at him.

"What now?" she hissed at him, and he smiled.

"Meeting's over, Rose." he said simply, and stood up. Rose yawned absent-mindedly as she too, stood up to walk out of the now empty conference room.

"What happened?" she asked Mickey as he held open the door for her.

"Not much." he said honestly. "You gave the Weevil-guy £20,000 to renovate the sewers -"

"I did what?" Rose stopped in front of him and held him still with her hand. "You're not serious?"

He smirked. "No." She breathed a sigh of relief and allowed him to continue walking, with her at his side. "But glad to see you were paying attention." he added sarcastically.

"Oh, don't you start." she grumbled as the two walked down the corridor and stopped I front of the lift. "I've already got dad going on at me about all this paperwork and all the meetings…" She trailed off when she realised that Mickey wasn't listening, but instead was staring at a point just over her right shoulder. She turned, but there was no one there. "D'you mind? I'm trying to moan here." she teased him, and his eyes flickered up to her face.

"It's just…you're doing it again." he muttered.

"What?" Rose asked blankly, and he inclined his head slightly towards the point his eyes had been momentarily transfixed on. Her eyes darted to the right and she found that she had subconsciously been pulling on her ear as she talked. She lowered her hand to her side and smiled sheepishly.

"Sorry." she apologized, but he shook his head.

"Don't be." he smiled. "It's…sweet. You know, how you picked up stuff from him."

She pushed his arm gently. "I did not pick up stuff from him!" she protested. "Well, just that ear thing, apparently."

He scoffed. "Yeah, and everything else." At her blank look, he smiled more. "Like, okay - the ear thing; and what about how you've started doing that thing where you talk at like, a million miles an hour and expect people to understand you. And how you always talk to your computer, like he always talked to the TARDIS; and those glasses that you don't even -"

"I don't think me yelling at my laptop is the same as the Doctor telling the TARDIS he loves her!" Rose interrupted indignantly, but was cut off by the ping of the lift appearing.

"Whatever…" Mickey grinned, and walked into the lift. Rose didn't - she had to go back to her office and catch up on her paperwork. "Just think about it." he added, as the doors slid shut and Rose was left alone in the hallway.

She frowned. Maybe she had picked up a few habits from her travels with the Doctor. It was nothing to be ashamed of. She'd always liked the way he was so passionate about the TARDIS - though she made a mental note to stop yelling at machines when other people were around - and she loved how he would rush through things with that manic grin. She smiled.

_No, there's nothing wrong with being a bit like the Doctor. In fact, this world could do with someone who thinks like he does._

She turned round after a second and headed back to her office with the Doctor on her mind. She passed Pete in the hall.

"I want that paperwork by tomorrow morning." he smiled, knowing that Rose knew he was only teasing her. She didn't reply, too wrapped up in her own thoughts, and sighed once she was back in her comfy, warm office.

She sat down at her desk and switched on her computer, though it naturally didn't work. She frowned, trying to remember where she had left her paperwork. She muttered to herself quickly, too quietly for anyone else to hear - if there had been anyone else in the room, and pulled out drawers and leafed through files to find the latest batch of papers. When, at last, she found them under a snow globe in her bottom drawer, the computer still hadn't loaded.

"Oh, what is going on with you lately?" she snapped at it loudly. She banged on the monitor with her fist and then reached inside her jacket pocket for her black-framed glasses. She slipped them onto her nose gently and leafed through the paperwork to find the place where she had last given up.

She started writing and managed to focus for a few minutes before the screen of the computer finally flashed up with her background. It was a picture of her and the Doctor. She instinctively reached up and rubbed her ear soothingly, before pushing herself away from the desk with shock. In the picture on the screen, the Doctor was tugging at his ear like he always did - Rose dropped her hand to her side immediately - whilst grinning like a mad man, and wearing those stupid black glasses that he didn't even…need. Rose tore the glasses off her face, thinking back to Mickey's last phrase.

"_And those glasses that you don't even -"_

Rose's eyes widened with shock as she realised that she could, and always had been able to, see perfectly well without wearing her glasses.

_Oh…my…god._

_I'm turning into the Doctor!_

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Thanks for reading, I hope you liked it; please review!


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